Fortune 500 list released

NEW YORK (AP) - Surging U.S. energy prices gave oil, gas and power companies new fuel in their climb through the ranks of the annual Fortune 500.

Irving, Texas-based oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. posted its highest-ever revenue of $210 billion in 2000, boosting it to No. 1 on the list from its 1999 ranking as No. 3. Automaker General Motors Corp. had revenue of $184.6 billion and fell from No. 1 to No. 3.

Other energy companies also fared well in 2000, with Enron Corp. rising to No. 7 from No. 18. Duke Energy Corp. shot up to No. 17 from 69 and Reliant Energy Inc. made it up to No. 55 from 114.

The list of the largest publicly held companies, ranked by fiscal year revenues, has been compiled annually since 1955 by the editors of Fortune. GM, which had held the top spot on the list for 15 years, now trails No. 2 Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Energy companies benefited from a surge in revenue brought about by falling supplies, utility deregulation, soaring natural gas prices and OPEC's maneuvering to keep oil prices high. In the past year, crude oil has sold for as much as $30 a barrel, and gasoline cost more than $2 a gallon last summer in some parts of the United States.

Other energy firms advancing included Texaco Inc., which went from No. 28 to No. 16; Chevron Corp., which was ranked No. 20, up from No. 35; and Dynegy Inc., which rose to No. 54 from No. 112.

San Francisco-based Chevron agreed to buy Texaco last October for $35.1 billion in stock, plus assumed debt of $7.5 billion. The deal is expected to close this summer pending review by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

The Internet slowdown and uncertainty about the economy hurt a number of companies, particularly telecommunications firms. AT&T Corp. fell from No. 8 to No. 9.

America Online Inc., which became the first purely Internet company to break into the list last year at No. 337, rose to No. 271. Since then, it has become AOL Time Warner Inc. with its acquisition of Time Warner. The combined company's revenue of $36.2 billion would have made it No. 39 on the year 2000 list, but the deal didn't close until early this year.

Computer companies were led by International Business Machines Corp., which stayed in the top 10 but fell from sixth last year to No. 8.

Microsoft Corp. rose to 79 from 84, and Cisco Systems Inc., which makes equipment for the Internet, advanced to 107 from 146, despite the dot-com crash.

Wal-Mart, which remained in the No. 2 spot, had revenues of $193.2 billion. It also has the most employees of any company on the list, with more than 1.2 million worldwide.

The top 10 also included Ford Motor Co. at No. 4, a position it held last year. General Electric stayed at No. 5 and Citigroup Inc., the nation's largest financial services company, rose from seventh place to No. 6.

Total profits for the 500 corporations grew 8.4 percent for the year, down from 1999's level of 28.7 percent, to $444 billion. Revenue grew by more than 13 percent to a combined $7.2 trillion for 2000. They employed more than 24 million workers.